Ruth 2:1-13 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
The last lesson ended on one line: Naomi and Ruth “came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22).
Two widows have come home, with no man in the house and no harvest of their own. In this lesson, Ruth goes out to the fields to glean.
1Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.
2Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you.” They answered him, “May the LORD bless you.”
5Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young lady is this?”
6The servant who was set over the reapers answered, “It is the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
7She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she rested a little in the house.”
8Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here, but stay here close to my maidens.
9Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn.”
10Then she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?”
11Boaz answered her, “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before.
12May the LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.”
To read the whole chapter: Ruth 2, 23 verses. Verses 14–23 are in Lesson 4.
Someone introduced first. Before Ruth even leaves the house, the passage tells us: “Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz” (v. 1). The reader knows this first; Ruth does not yet.
It was Ruth’s idea. “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor” (v. 2). Ruth speaks first. She does not know whose field she will come to, or who will let her glean. Naomi says only, “Go, my daughter” (v. 2).
She happened to come. Ruth “came and gleaned in the field after the reapers,” and the passage goes on: “she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech” (v. 3). The passage uses the word ‘happened’ and says no more.
Greetings in the field. Boaz comes from town and says to the reapers, “May the LORD be with you”; the reapers answer, “May the LORD bless you” (v. 4). This is an everyday greeting in the field at harvest time. In this book God seldom speaks or acts directly, yet when people speak to one another, they often speak of the LORD.
A woman who worked from morning on. Boaz asks, “Whose young lady is this?” (v. 5). The servant answers that she is “the Moabite lady who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab” (v. 6). He adds that she first asked permission, and “has continued even from the morning until now, except that she rested a little in the house” (v. 7).
Not to touch you. Boaz tells Ruth, “Don’t go to glean in another field, and don’t go from here” (v. 8); “Haven’t I commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from that which the young men have drawn” (v. 9). He gives a foreign widow safety in the field, and water to drink.
Since I am a foreigner. Ruth falls on her face and asks, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take knowledge of me, since I am a foreigner?” (v. 10). Boaz answers that he has been told “what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth” (v. 11). In the last lesson Ruth said “Your people will be my people” (Ruth 1:16); in this lesson, someone in Bethlehem already knows what she has done.
Under his wings. Boaz blesses her: “May the LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (v. 12). Ruth answers, “you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant” (v. 13). We will read this line about ‘wings’ again in the next lesson.
Israel’s law has instructions about the harvest: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest” (Lev 19:9); “You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner” (Lev 19:10). Deuteronomy also says: “When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow” (Deut 24:19).
Ruth is a foreigner from Moab, and a widow. She says “since I am a foreigner” (v. 10), and Boaz says she has “left your father, your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn’t know before” (v. 11). This lesson reads these words of the law side by side with Ruth.
Perhaps you too are a ‘gleaner’: starting over in a new place, following behind others, picking up a little of what is left. Perhaps you too have asked: I am an outsider — why would anyone show me favor?
This lesson does not explain ‘happened’ for you. It only lets you see that Ruth did the one thing she could do — bending down to glean, from the morning until now — and on that day she also met someone who looked after her.
This week: Think of someone near you who has just arrived and has no one to lean on yet — a new coworker, a new neighbor, a newcomer at church. This week, do one small, concrete thing for them: a cup of water, a meal, a word of greeting.
Scripture: World English Bible.